What To Do When It All Goes Wrong In Business

Most articles and books you come across nowadays will tell you how to make it all work for your business, or how to manage your success. Very few of them actually talk about the possibility of it all going wrong. Think about it! You put in all that planning, conduct your feasibility studies, employ accountants to help you be frugal with your income, but everything just goes wrong. If everything goes wrong, do not panic. Because we've got some good news!

Most articles and books you come across nowadays will tell you how to make it all work for your business, or how to manage your success. Very few of them actually talk about the possibility of it all going wrong. Think about it! You put in all that planning, conduct your feasibility studies, employ accountants to help you be frugal with your income, but everything just goes wrong. If everything goes wrong, do not panic. Because we've got some good news!

Important Steps You Can Take

Identify The Problem

The main thing to do in a situation like this is to identify ‘why’. Knowing why it all went wrong is the quickest way to getting out of the rump your business is facing. You must've made a couple of poor choices for your business, which may have led to the problems you are currently facing. If the business owner is unable to identify the problem, a Subject Matter Expert must be set up to clearly identify the problems. Doing this will not only help your business to get out of the problem, but it will prevent it from occurring all over again.

Identify Faults, But Don’t Apportion Blame

Your team was put together because there is an innate talent that each team member has. When a business owner assembles a team, they do so thinking that each member they selected is the best at what he or she does. Unless under dire circumstances, most business owners would not go into business with people who are not capable of sustaining the business. When your business encounters a massive loss, it is very important for you to clearly identify the faults of the parties involved, and then move on. When each member or department identifies what he or she could have done better, it is very important to move on. Your entire company should make a conscious effort to do better and move on past the error.

Consult Outside Help If Needed

Even if you feel every single thing has been done to perfection, and you cannot seem to identify the problem, considering outside help can sometimes be one of the best decisions to take. Professionals that don't work in your company may be in a better position to assess and dissect the issue at hand. Look around you, talk to competitors, look at what they're doing that you aren't. This may just be what your business needs.

Don’t Work Hard, Work Smart

There is always the possibility that things went wrong simply because everyone was working too hard. Yes! Working too hard can eliminate the creativity in people and can make your business to start encountering losses. Sometimes you just need to take it easy and make friends with your employees. Nobody likes working under unnecessary stress all the time. Gaining the trust of other people, especially people working with you, will ultimately go a long way. You may not need to work hard to get out of the turmoil that your business is experiencing. Working smart can help you identify the problem and fix it.

Understand The Possibility Of The Problem Occurring Again

The fact that you have identified the problem and fixed it, does not mean that it can never occur again. As a business owner, you must be smart, proactive, and plot a course that ensures that your business would never have to go through the same thing again. The businesses that excel in the world today are the ones that are able to learn from their mistakes. A business must also be able to learn from the mistakes of its competitors. You don’t have to wait until you encounter the failures yourself before you learn from them.

Here's a famous quote by Otto von Bismarck

“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”

And Finally...Focus And Stay Determined!

Just like they say it, "no pain, no gain". Although it will take some time to see results especially if you've just started out, but if you stay focused and determined, you WILL get there. Your goal is to not lose patience.

Following the above steps will help your business get back on track. The world of business is a dynamic and constantly evolving one. It is therefore very possible to encounter problems everyday. Encountering failure does not mean that you're not cut out for business or that the company will still not be a success. It is all part of the pains of growing.

Originally Posted on Linkedin

Jess Wolodkowicz

Tradeshow Strategist | Account Manager

Web | Linkedin | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | YouTube | Blogger

Email: jess@theexhibitcompany.com.au

Phone: +61 (02) 8093 3806

Mobile:  0417 468 487

How Competitors Can Help Your Business

Competition in business does a lot more good than most people realize. The businesses that survive in the world today are those that have identified the potential of the competitors to help develop their businesses. Without the competition your business faces, you wouldn’t be as efficient as you are in business. Competition is a major driver of efficiency. Through competition, businesses are tasked to develop new products and services that are better than the previous services they offered. This is very common in the telecoms industry.

It is often seen that when a telecom company reduces their call rates, their competitors would follow suit. This competition creates an avenue for improvement, and tasks business owners to think outside the box. Your business’ fighting spirit against the competition is what drives it to succeed and survive in a constantly evolving world.

The Co-Founder of HubSpot, a marketing and sales software company is quoted saying “Startups come down to pureexecution of strategy on a daily basis and maintain the faith for the longhaul. Most startups don’t lose to competition, but because they lose the willto fight”. I have personally noticed that it is this ‘will to fight’ that keeps businesses active.

Competition is very healthy for business. Rivalry makes you work smarter with the resources at your disposal. Let’s take an analogy from the wild. The lion is such a great hunter because of the competition from lions in other packs. If it doesn’t learn how to hunt, another predator would deprive it from having food. This competition is what charges one to survive. Competition is therefore not only healthy, but a necessity for survival.

In this article, we’ll be taking a look at why competitors are healthy for your business, and ways you can actually use them to grow your own business.

Competition Helps You Avoid Complacency:

This is the major killer of businesses in the world today. Once a startup starts to generate income and develops a presence among consumers, a common problem is for that startup to grow complacent. I have personally seen a number of startups that crumble just a few months after publishing profits, simply because they started to grow complacent. This is the quickest killer of innovation. When a business starts to grow complacent, it starts to lose its will to innovate and create new products, services and ideas. They then grow comfortable earning a particular level of income. This will ultimately lead to the death of such a business if it is not careful.

Competition Helps You Build A Brand Clout And Differentiation:

The willingness to stand out is what gets businesses and brands noticed by consumers. Business is no different from pop culture. The brands and celebrities that dare to create new music are the ones that get recognized by the public. It’s the same with business. The businesses that think outside the box and try to create something new are those that ultimately get noticed by the consumers. The audience will grow to appreciate your leadership through thought and this would make them choose you over the competition.

Competition Makes It Easier For You To Exploit Trends In The Industry:

Thanks to the existence of competition, you don’t have to conduct every single survey by yourself. You can learn from the trends the market follows because of the competition. The existence of competition helps you to save costs that may be incurred through market surveys. For example, if you the notice the competition are taking advantage of trade shows and exhibitions and getting results from them, you already know that this system works. You no longer need to conduct a survey to find out if this works.

Competition Brings Up The Possibility Of Partnerships:

If you can’t beat them, join them! The honest truth is that sometimes, there is a lot that can be derived through partnerships. If you admire some of the qualities of the competition, why not make up for each other’s weaknesses and form a partnerships.

Narrowing Down Your Niche:

Competition helps you to identify your strengths and makes you notice your niche. Identifying your niche can really help you take control of the market.

These are ways through which competition can help the growth of your business. Instead of focusing on how much hardship the competition is bringing you, why not focus on the positives and learn a thing or two from the competition you are facing.

Original Article on Linkedin

Jess Wolodkowicz

Tradeshow Strategist | Account Manager

Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | Youtube

Phone: +61 (02) 8093 3806

Mobile:  0417 468 487